Stay In Jerusalem

So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king's table; and was lame on both his feet. 2 Samuel 9:13

Mephibosheth is a figure of each of us as sinners. We are not deserving of the King's mercies and kindnesses, but He gives them too us anyway out of love. We are helpless and hopeless, yet He took us in and adopted us. This new year we can eat continually at the King's table. God wants to provide for you in every way, every day. He wants to bless and care for and love you. All we have to do is STAY IN JERUSALEM! Stay near the King--He'll do the rest.

Out Of The Whirlwind

Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Job 40:6

God didn't answer Job from a peaceful meadow. He didn't come to him by way of a gently bubbling brook. God didn't speak on the wings of a soft spring breeze. Job heard God's answer in the throes of a whirlwind--from the middle of a violent, confusing mass of a storm. Sometimes God speaks to us softly, as He did to Elijah, with a still, small voice. But other times God's voice cannot be heard until we're in the midst of the storm. There are times when we have to be quiet, still the inner voices, to hear Him. And then there are times when He has to scramble and drown out the noise from the world around us so that the only thing we can clearly hear is His answer coming to us from the chaos. The good news is, He WILL always speak to us, always answer us, every time...in His time. When He does, will you be willing to listen?

Look Up!

And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. Exodus 33:11a

Have you ever heard anyone chastising a child (or another adult, for that matter,) for not bowing his head and/or closing his eyes during prayer? Other than the obvious "How do you know?" issue, this grates against my nerves. There is nothing wrong with bowing to pray, kneeling to pray, closing your eyes to pray. Nothing at all, indeed, sometimes these things can help focus your heart and mind on what you're doing. But prayer is not about a posture! There is no reason for us to come in an attitude of timidity before God; as a matter of fact, we're instructed to come BOLDLY to the throne. We're not merely subjects of the King--we're His children! We're the favored ones. And He wants to talk to us the way He did Moses here: face to face. God wants to have an intimate dialogue with you. He wants your relationship with Him to be that of a close, personal friend. God wants you to talk to Him, and He wants to talk to you...but He wants to speak face to face, not to the top of your head or the back of it. Come to Him boldly and come as a friend.

He Is Right

To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Psalm 92:15

Sometimes life seems very unfair. Things go every which way but the right one. Everything that can go wrong does, and it's so easy to get upset and frustrated with God. To scream out, "Why?!" Even to shake our fist and curse Him. Why does He allow this evil, this unfairness, these bad things to happen to us? But God is righteous. God is holy. God is right in all that He does. He does things we don't understand, allows things we can't comprehend to happen, but just because we don't see His reason or understand His plan doesn't mean He doesn't have one...and one with our best interest at heart.

After World War II, when the concentration camps were emptied and examined, a quote was found scrawled on a wall. An unknown prisoner, victim of unspeakable evils, sufferer of unimaginable tribulations had written, "I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I cannot feel it. And I believe in God even when He is silent." There will be times when God seems to have fallen silent. But don't believe He doesn't hear you! When you can't see His purpose or hear His voice, trust His heart! God is RIGHT...even when it feels so wrong!

The Reason for the Season

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Well-meaning people say, "Christmas isn't about gifts, it's about Jesus." Now, that's a contradictory statement. Christmas is about Jesus, true...but He IS the greatest gift ever!
It's about the One called Wonderful--the source of our joy and happiness.
It's about the One called Counsellor--the source of all wisdom and understanding.
It's about the One called the Mighty God--the source of our strength and power.
It's about the One called the Everlasting Father--the source of our existence and life, physical and eternal.
It's about the One called the Prince of Peace--the source all peace and comfort.
So the next time you say, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" remember that He is...but not just because the nice little story of Him coming as a baby. He's the reason for the season because He is Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and Savior!

The Rock

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Psalm 95:1

The last five words of this verse are a not unfamiliar phrase in the Bible. It's one of those things we read and hear so much that we never really think about what it actually says. God is the foundation of our salvation--our hope. Without Him, all is lost. But He doesn't just give us some basis to build on. No, He is a solid, unmoving, unfailing foundation. He cannot lie, He cannot fail, He cannot falter or mess up or fall asleep. Our salvation is not founded upon us, for if it were, it would surely crumble. You can relax. You can sing. You can dance and rejoice: your fate, your hope, your peace is dependant on a rock that cannot be moved.

Fill It ALL THE WAY!

Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. John 2:7

God lets us get involved in our lives. We're not robots, not pre-programmed machines. We have a free will. We are allowed to make choices that affect our lives on both large and small scales. And we get to decide what we're going to give God to work with in our lives. He lets us do that. He asks, "What will you let me do for you?" These men were told to fill the waterpots. They could have filled them 3/4 of the way. Or half way. They didn't have to fill them all the way to the brim. But they did, and there was that much more miraculously made wine because of it. Are you giving God 3/4 or half a vessel to work with? You may do that--He'll let you, and He'll still bless you...but you'll only get 3/4 or half the blessing you could have had. Don't hold back on God! Give Him everything you can to work with, and He'll show you something amazing. Fill your waterpot to the brim!

More Than a Gold Star

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: Luke 4:14a

This is immediately following the verse from last night--the passage where Jesus is tempted. Jesus faced temptation--severe, strong, serious temptation--and resisted. And THEN He experienced the power of the Spirit. We want to be blessed, to see God work strongly on our behalf (and that's not at all a bad thing--we should want that,) but we need to realize that comes AFTER the testings, trials, and temptations. You're gonna have to go through some things first, and they won't be fun or easy. So don't shrink back when you face the test--you get more than a gold star on the other side!

Like As We

And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. Luke 4:13

A lot of us, I believe, are under the impression that this is the only time Christ was tempted. Not so! Note that Satan departed "for a season." Christ endured temptation throughout His earthly life exactly as we do. He had countless opportunities to sin just as you and I do. Sometimes we feel like God just doesn't get it. It's not fair--He allows us to go into these situations of trial and temptation and suffering, and He just doesn't know what it's like. Oh, but He does! God spent 33 years living with the same weaknesses, wants, needs, desires we have. He endured the same pressures and temptations we all do. And He did it on purpose. He came to die, yes, but Jesus came to live, too. He came to live in the same manner that we do so that whenever we are suffering, we can know He did, too. He came to live so that whenever we are in a trial, we can rest assured that He sees and understands. He came to live so that whenever we are tempted, we can realize that He knows what we're dealing with and what it's like. Jesus Christ lived a full life of testing and temptation. Talk to Him--He understands where you are!

Follow And Be Fed

And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. Mark 6:39

I like that Mark is particular about the grass. Green grass. Kinda brings Psalm 23 to mind, doesn't it? And I believe the correlation is intentional. Jesus was the Shepherd come to find His lost sheep and to give His own life for theirs. But at this precise moment, He was the tending to a more immediate need for His flock--feeding them. You see, God obligates Himself to take care of those who follow Him. And He never, ever goes back on an obligation. The disciples wanted to send them away, but Christ said, no, they've chosen to follow me even out here; I will supply. Keep in mind, though, that only those who came all the way out to that "desert place" were fed. I imagine that some saw how far they'd have to go and said, "This is as far as I go--I'm not following him all the way out there." Those didn't get fed. The ones who did, however, were more than provided for. They had leftovers! They couldn't deny that, as the psalmist sang, they did not want. Make sure you're following the Great Shepherd, even into the desert places, and He WILL provide.

God Is No Genie

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Luke 6:46

It's funny how we expect God to be there for us...without our being there for Him. How unfair and selfish is that? We expect God to be at out beck and call when we need Him, but we don't want to do the things He asks us to do. We want to live for us...and we want Him to live for us, too. Sometimes it's as if God is, in our minds, a magic genie that we pull out of His bottle when we want something, then put back on the shelf when we're done. And we feel like we're doing Him a favor for letting Him out! Who exactly do we think we are? God loves us and wants to do things for us; but He deserves to have us do some things for Him, too, does He not? After all, He already gave us the life we have, the things we have, and died to redeem us to boot. He deserves a little something out of the deal, I'd say. When people take for granted and treat the people in their lives--family, friends, co-workers, employees--with such disregard, we consider them selfish jerks. Why is it different when we treat God the same way?

Ours!

Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 18:10

Pronouns are rather often overlooked. How about that personal pronoun "their" in this verse? Have you considered the fact that you have angels? The implication here is that God has assigned cerain angels specifically to your case. That there are specific angels whose only purpose at this moment is you--to watch over, to defend, to minister to...you! Think about that for a moment. These beings were designed and created to worship and glorify and minister directly to God Himself, yet He's deemed us important enough to assign them to us. Also, these are the same sort of beings that are warring against us in this world. The demons and devils trying to ruin and destroy and mislead us are no more powerful than the angels sent to fight for us. We're not alone. Not only is God with us Himself, but He sends His warriors to do battle for us as well. It's a good thing, this knowledge that we have our own special, specific protectors.

Doctrinal Adulthood

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight if men.... Ephesians 4:14

Recently I've been disturbed by the seeming resurgence of an old mis-doctrination. In a word, Calvinism. Not going to go into great detail, because it's a rather lengthy diatribe, but it's the belief that God preselected certain people to be saved and all others not to be saved. The belief is essentially based on a misrepresentation of one verse that actually deals with sanctification, not salvation. But what disturbs me the most is that I'm seeing people try to explain away verse after verse after verse...large chunks of Scripture...to defend this false teaching. Consider: to defend this, whosoever cannot mean whosoever, world cannot mean world, all cannot mean all, and so on. Salvation cannot be by grace, through faith, because God's already chosen some and not others--our faith is of no meaning. God IS willing that some perish, NOT that all come to repentance. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord MAY or MAY NOT be saved.

The sad fact is, many will go to hell because of this doctrine. That's why it is so very important that we study to show ourselves approved; that we know the Scripture, compare Scripture with Scripture, and seek guidance and discernment in understanding and interpreting it. You cannot understand on your own! In our own wisdom, we are all to simple not to be carried away by mistaken doctrine. This one alone tripped up such men as C.H. Spurgeon and Martin Luther. We cannot afford to stay children spiritually--too much is at stake. Feed on the Word, grow in it. It is of eternal importance.

Hope

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13

In spite of unfortunate appearances sometimes, Christianity is not a despairing religion. Ours is a religion of hope. We have to have hope in this world, or we simply will not make it! Hold on to your faith. Cling to your hope. It will give you the strength you need to overcome. And, while you're at it, show that hope and faith to those around you--it may be exactly what they're looking for!

Who Can Condemn?

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Romans 8:34

This is a challenge. Paul dares the reader to find someone to condemn us; for who can possibly accuse those personally redeemed, cleansed, and pardoned by the Judge Himself? The answer, of course, is no one. Oh, they'll try. Satan will try, as he did with Job. The world will try with the old "I'm not so bad--look at them" routine. And we'll even try ourselves, trying to berate and guilt ourselves into self-imposed spiritual exile. But the accusations are weak at best and cannot stand up to the blood of Christ. It's amazing to know that the Savior is at the Father's side right this very instant saying, "Nope--I've got that one covered. No, she's mine, too. Try again--his debt's been paid." And not only that, but turning to God and pleading for you! Jesus is praying for us! Incidentally, just a few verses before we read that the Spirit is interceeding for us, also. That's two of the three persons of the God-head actively taking our side. So really...who could possibly condemn us?

Oh...And, I'm Sorry.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our dubts, as we forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:11-12

This is, of course, the model prayer given by Christ Himself. It's the order here than I want to highlight, because it's completely backwards from what is so often taught and preached. The order here is requests then confession. Christ didn't tell us to get forgiveness before making our requests known. Now, this seems to contradict what we're normally told, which is we cannot get our prayers heard if we have sin in our life. And there are verses that seem to teach that...and those that teach that God always hears our prayers and often answers them in spite of our sin. So, is the Bible contradicting itself? Of course not! God makes no mistake and does not change His mind or contradict Himself. Understanding spiritual things is a task we will never completely master, but He will give discerning and understanding incrementally. In this situation, the best way is to consider God in His parental persona as our Father. Many of you are parents. When your children disobey, do you stop listening to them? No. Do you completely stop giving them things they ask for? No. Do you withhold some things you would otherwise allow them when they disobey? Yes! Why would God be different? When His children do wrong He chastises. He does NOT stop hearing. He does NOT stop blessing. But He will hold back some blessings He'd otherwise bestow. You could say He kind of grounds us. But He isn't gone! He isn't ignoring us or stopping His ears to our cries! And His prayer hearing and answering ability is not stopped by our failure unless He holds back in correction.

Rain, Rain...Let Me Get My Umbrella

This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. Psalm 34:6

"...and saved him out of all his troubles." First, notice that God didn't make the trouble go away or prevent all trouble. God never promised to make all our problems disappear or that we'd never have anymore. As a matter of fact, He guarantees trouble and trials and persecution. What He promised was that He would carry us through them; that, no matter what problem we faced, He was greater. We have troubles in life. We feel sometimes like it's not fair...and sometimes, it's not. But the story doesn't end with the problem! With God, there's always a solution. The problems don't go away because of prayer (usually,) but the means is given to overcome them.

Heard!

This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. Psalm 34:6

"...and the LORD heard him...." No matter our state of affairs, no matter our situation, God hears us. We cannot get so far away that God cannot or will not hear and listen to us. He is omnipotent and omnipresent, so He is definitely able. And He loves you, so He's certainly willing. Don't ever let anyone tell you that God won't hear you for ANY reason! It doesn't matter how much trouble surrounds you or how far from Him you've gotten. God's ear is specially tuned to hear you, even when you can't (or won't) hear Him. He may choose to hold his answer for a bit to get your attention, but know that He's heard you. Just make sure you're available for the conversation to go two ways.

Stop Whining And Start Crying

This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. Psalm 34:6

There is so much in this little verse! Let's start, today, at the beginning.

"This poor man cried." Ever find yourself asking God why? We question why we're facing the junk that we have to face on a daily basis, why He's let us come against our problems, why He doesn't remove them, why life has to be so complicated and difficult. But have we actually asked Him to do anything about the problem? It's easy to complain without consulting. Don't ask God why you're in a trial before you've asked Him to do something about it! Now, sometimes God will intervene of His own volition to take care of something for us. Other times, though, He wants us to come to Him. Sometimes we have to sit in our problems and sink a little, so that we will get back to the point where we realize how poor and helpless we are and cry to Him for help. So I guess it's really up to us, a lot of times (though not always,) how long we'll stay in trouble. Quit wasting time questioning why, and ask for help!

I Believe...

for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. 2 Timothy 1:12b

We often follow the words "I believe" with the word "that." Well, it matters far less what we believe than who we believe. I believe a lot of things, some of which will carry me through, some of which will let me down; some will hold true, some will reveal themselves to be false. But I can always return to the whom of my belief without fail. Stop "believing that" and "believe God." The that's will be taken care of.

Practice First

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalm 27:14

I find it interesting here that we're told to wait on God and be of good courage...essentially, to show faith...before God strengthens us. We have to practice our faith and patience first for God to strengthen it. We can't just say, "God, I need faith," and then wait to get it. We have to use the faith we have, demonstrate the patience we already have, to recieve more. I'm not a person of great faith. And I assure you that patience is NOT my strong suit. I don't trust anyone or anything, including God, easily; and waiting drives me absolutely insane. But we're not told we had to be masters of faith and patience...just that we have to do what we can with what we have. We lay the foundation with our meager supply, and only then does God step in and build on what we have.

Careful With That Prayer!

And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. Psalm 106:15

We are sometimes under the impression that God filters everything that comes into our lives. We think, well, I'll do what I want, and God will take care of the details. And sometimes He does. Sometimes God will close doors to protect us from making poor choices. Sometimes He will say "No" when we ask for something because it will not be good for us. But He doesn't always do that. Sometimes God will give you what you want. He'll let you go where you want, do what you will. And then you have to deal with the consequences. Be careful what you ask for--in both your actions and your prayers. You just might get it!

Reason From The Ruckus

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Realize that this verse does not say that everything that happens, happens for your good. It says that (for God's called) everything will work out for good. See, we forget that God's sovereignty and will are trumped by our will. And that is by His own design. But that means that sometimes bad things happen...and there may not be a good reason for them. Bad things happen because we make bad choices...or because someone else made a bad choice that affects us. Yes, everything happens for a reason, but often that reason is because we're foolish and sinful. What this verse is assuring us is, even when those pointless, non-God-willed things happen...He's not shocked and confused and thrown for a loop. He is still there to take the bad, mix it with this or that, and make something good out of it. Even though it may not be how He willed it, He's still able to mold the situation into something good. But, for your own sake...go to Him before you make a mess and try to minimize the damage.